Game-7 showdown

Photographs snapped during the Vancouver riots have touched off a major police investigation aimed at identifying vandals and thieves.

The Vancouver Police Department is calling on the witnesses to submit images of the riot and the public has responded, sending so many pictures on Thursday that the police force's website temporarily crashed.

Social media campaigns have also taken aim at rioters, posting photos of suspects on Facebook and encouraging online communities to identify them. "All of the [G20] prosecutions are going to be identity-based prosecutions," Giroux said, which means police must establish the suspect charged is the rioter pictured.

After the G20 Giroux's team gathered around 80,000 images from the public, social media websites and downtown businesses. These images, combined with CCTV footage and photos taken by police, formed the basis of the investigation.

Gaining multiple vantage points of suspects committing obvious crimes, like torching police cars, was also key to the cases.

Giroux predicts that Vancouver police will be successful in tracking down and charging rioters. Schneider said this publicly shared information will likely become police evidence.

The riots that followed the Vancouver Canucks' Game-7 loss to the Boston Bruins Wednesday night got out of hand so rapidly that Vancouver police were forced to call in reinforcements from the North Shore.

Members of the West Vancouver police's day shift stayed late into the night to help cover for officers called into the downtown core to help contain the growing chaos. Members of the North Vancouver RCMP, assigned to the region's riot squad, also helped in the effort.

Service returned to normal Thursday morning.

On Thursday, the Vancouver Police Department issued a plea to the public to submit those files to help investigators identify individuals who participated in criminal acts

Those were the words of Police Chief Jim Chu a few hours before the puck dropped at Rogers Arena Wednesday night.

He spoke to the Courier after a Vancouver Police Board meeting at the Cambie Street police station, where the board had discussed policing the Vancouver Canucks playoff run. Then it was city manager Penny Ballem's turn. At the time, the Boston Bruins were up 3-0 and crowds of dejected fans were heading up Georgia Street past Ballem. "This city has matured so much since then," Ballem said of the riot that occurred after the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in another Game 7. Mayor Gregor Robertson, who attended the game, issued a statement last night. Thousands of people were scared and threatened, including many young families, by the reckless, violent actions of people who were intent on breaking the law. The riot is believed to have started outside the Canada Post building on Georgia Street where two cars were set ablaze.

Riot police slowly moved down Georgia near the CBC building to disperse what was a young, unruly crowd that tossed boards from broken barricades and other objects at police. As police cleared the plaza with police dogs, the mob moved into a parking lot adjacent to the theatre, where several young men and women trashed two marked police cars before setting them ablaze.

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Around the corner on Dunsmuir Street, a man covered in blood was pacing inside the entrance to the Granville SkyTrain station.

A police officer in the station suddenly grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprinted over to Granville Street where rowdy drunks had just flipped a glass truck on its side. The sound of broken glass was constant, with several stores along the 600-block of Granville Street, including Yedina, a women's clothing store, being looted. Black smoke spewed from alleys and streets.

At 10:45 p.m., police on horseback chased looters down Granville Street as officers on foot and armed with batons made several arrests. Then another car was flipped over in the 500-block of Howe Street to shouts.

Back on Georgia Street, several security guards wearing hardhats stood in front of Hawksworth Restaurant at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia while across the street hundreds of people danced on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

I just want to get my people home."

Before the riot started, the talk on the street was about the game, which the Canucks ended up losing 4-0 in a much-hyped Game 7 showdown. Higney, wearing former Canuck captain Trevor Linden's jersey, spent $700 on a plane ticket to fly to Vancouver from Fort McMurray, Alta. Police didn't have final estimates of the number of people on the street but called in 100 RCMP and additional officers from neighbouring municipal detachments. Abbotsford police also joined in once the mayhem escalated.

Before the game started, fire and police officials turned back hundreds of people from entering into the fan zones for safety reasons. "There's not enough crowd control. City manager Penny Ballem agreed the crowd wasn't like previous nights, where families were able to sit on the streets and watch the game on the screens. "Tonight, there's not a lot we can do to prevent the numbers of people that want to come... Police will release the final tab when all costs are tabulated.

At the police board meeting earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke said the vast majority of people police had contact with during the series were from outside Vancouver.